Pop Vultures

My life has changed quite a bit in the last couple of months. I went from working in a respectable career, earning this remarkable thing called “money”, to being an impoverished student whose primary source of income was the weekly pub quiz.

That’s not the only change. Those who follow this blog might have noticed a change in the frequency of posting. A large part of that is due to the need to write things that actually pay when I have the chance, and between that and the vast amount of time spent consuming fine alcoholic beverages, I simply have less time to post. There’s another reason, though — another big, and very unwelcome change: I have less to say about television.

It doesn’t make sense. I’m doing a masters in Film & Television Studies, and as the only television-focused student in the group, I spend a lot of time defending the small screen. I talk about TV all the time. Surely, I should be able to transfer some of it to this page?

I still love TV, even though it’s trying very hard to push me away. These days, if TV was a lover, it would be staying out late and forgetting our anniversary on a regular basis. Instead of bringing me roses in the form of shows like The Wire, it is stopping at a convenience store on the way home to pick up a bunch of pink carnations in the form of Fringe and The Eleventh Hour. TV, I fear, is taking me for granted. It’s just stopped trying.

I still watch most of my old favorites, but today I tallied up all the shows I still watch, and it averaged out to fewer than two hours a day. TWO. Okay, yeah, that might be a bit much for the average sort, but I am no average TV viewer. I am a TV blogger. It is my sacred duty, imposed upon me by the gods of Wordpress and the Google search function, to watch as much TV as I can possibly get away with.

Maybe it was the strike. Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s the fact that the networks insist that my life will be better if I watch crap like Worst Week or The Ex List. Maybe it’s the long span of time before Battlestar Galactica and Lost start up again. Whatever it is, TV and I are in a slump. It just doesn’t excite me like it once did.

How are you and TV getting along these days? Are you still close, or has the spark gone out for the moment?